Chapter Text
Van didn't know if this was a good idea. Sure, moving away from Wiskayok after such a harrowing journey was greatly appreciated. But the reason wasn't totally great on either end- her aunt’s stepson was dead and she needed help. Her cousin was in pain. And having to retake senior year in a foreign place, older and scarred, was still awful.
Van was now nearing 20 and still in high school. Sure she could have gotten a GED, but her parents really drilled into her that it would be worse than just retaking one year. Besides, getting back some lost time was good.
Van got a therapist once they were in Hawkins. Moving from Jersey to Indiana was a stretch, a leap of faith, but she had someone to talk to. Mostly.
Van remembered the promise though. They weren't going to blab, and neither was she. What happened in the Wilderness, stayed in the Wilderness.
Van felt awful heading back into the closet though. She missed Tai, even though the other terrified her near the end. At least she didn't get those looks anymore. The words. People asking if they ate each other.
Van exhaled shakily, hand crumpling her resume a bit. No. This was a fresh start. And she was going to work at the video store.
Getting a job so soon hadn't been necessary, but her therapist thought she needed to do something to keep herself from ruminating. And she really only cared about three things.
Women, soccer, and movies.
She wasn't getting a girlfriend, she was never going out on the field again… so movies had to do.
Before that though, she desperately needed weed. And she was out.
Fuck.
“I heard you freaked out on Mike when he asked if you wanted to join Hellfire.” Van’s drug dealer had said when they finally linked up.
Van was quiet for a moment, rolling her weed into a blunt. “... I’m scared of it.”
Eddie scoffed. “You know all that devil worship satanism stuff isn't true, right?”
“It's not that.” Van shook her head. “... Having to put my brain back into a situation where you're trying to survive, even if it's all fictional… again… I…”
Eddie softened slightly. He leaned back, staring at Van. “... You never told me about the scar.”
Van reached up to touch her face. She frowned. “... It's a long and brutal story.” She said finally. “One I'm not up for telling.”
Eddie put his hands up in mock surrender. “Okay, okay! I won't pry. But… I can make an easy campaign for you. Maybe it'll help to feel some control, be separated by fiction… be a good guy. Save people.”
Van frowned even deeper at that. “... Maybe. Maybe I will, one day.” She finally said.
Eddie smiled. “Alright. Think about it.” He grabbed his tin and stood. “Now I got a couple other buyers to hook up with. See you later, Van.”
Van gave him a grunt, but did watch him walk off. After she was sure he was gone, she leaned back and smoked.
It took the edge off, but she didn't want to get too high. She just wanted to dull the memories flashing in her brain.
She hated the woods. Eddie knew that, that's why their Meetup spot was somewhere else. He was nice like that.
When Eddie had first told her where he made deals, she’d freaked out. She'd tried. Really she did.
Meeting at the bench, trembling and pale. Flinching at noises. She swore she heard a wolf.
Eddie had quickly rushed her out and even apologized to her. He was sweet like that. They were both much too old to be in high school… him moreso than her. But at least they commiserated on that. It'd blossomed into a friendship.
Van snuffed her blunt out and put it away, smoothing her clothes a bit. She had an interview.
Van recognised Steve and Robin vaguely. Robin, who sat across from her in English and next to her in History. They had a couple other classes but were pretty much on opposite ends of the room. Steve, who drove her to school and said hi to her cousin Max from time to time. Not that Max really responded.
“I'm here for the interview.” Van had barely got out before Robin was gawking in excited surprise.
“Vanessa Palmer, you're the person coming for an interview?”
Robin seemed to like Van, even if the ex-soccer star shyed away from making too many new friends. Eddie had been a complete accident.
“Oh wow, you know my last name.” Van drawled, putting the resume on the counter.
Steve glanced at them before smiling. “Hey, yeah. Rob can be like that.” Steve said, sliding the resume away to take it… somewhere.
Steve patted Robin’s shoulder. “I'll leave you two to talk.”
“Mm. No one calls me Vanessa.” Van added once he was gone.
“Oh, yeah. Right, sorry.” Robin rubbed the back of her neck, before clearing her throat. “So… what's your favourite movie?”
“Mm… Goonies. It's one of the greatest quests of all time.” Van felt herself lighting up now. “Mikey, he finds out that he's about to lose his house, but then him and his friends, they find this old pirate map and they go on an adventure to find… have you seen it?”
Robin jumped when Van looked at her again, her cheeks dusting pink a bit. “Oh- yeah! Course I have. I mean. Yeah, yes. I have.”
“It is a classic hero's journey. X marks the spot.” Van didn't shy away this time. If anything got her feelings like her old self, it was movies.
Robin smiled. “I already know you'll be a great fit.” She confessed. “I've heard you talk about movies before. When you get started, you don't stop.”
Van frowned at that, which made Robin stiffen.
“I didn't mean that as an insult! I mean- it's just an observation. You know movies, so- you'd be great here.”
Van exhaled. She glanced around the store before back at Robin. “Aren't you in high school still? Are you supposed to be doing my interview?”
Robin blushed. “Um, well… I wasn't really doing an interview…”
Van blinked, before sighing. “You mean I gotta do all of this again with the-”
“The real manager, yeah…”
Van wanted to be angry, really. But Robin shifted from foot to foot and wouldn't look at her, and it was… cute.
“Alright, so…” Steve said slowly, clasping his hands together as he came back. “Uh… Manager is ready for you.”
Van rolled her eyes with a slight smile. “Alright, well… hopefully I'll be working here so you got all the time in the world to say sorry.” She quipped at Robin, but didn't sound mad.
The interview did go swimmingly, and Van now had a great job at the video store.
With the extra money she was even bringing in help for her aunt and cousin, and everything was perfect.
Until it wasn't.
Van was doing her job perfectly fine. She was working with Steve, Robin was on break… and then the customer was talking about something other than movies.
“So where’d you get the nasty scar?”
Van froze, eyes still down at the VHS she had been swiping against the barcode scanner. She blinked, before looking up.
“Oh shit. No way. You're Van Palmer aren't you?”
Van couldn't breathe. Steve had moved towards the counter from where he had been talking to some girl, eyebrows furrowed. Like he was unsure if he should intervene.
“You were in that plane crash! I heard it took almost two years to find you guys. So how did you survive? Did you ever make it to nationals? Who did you eat first? Did your teammates attack you? Is that where you got the scar?”
Van couldn't breathe. She had dropped behind the counter now, covering her ears and taking ragged, choked breaths, trying to fill her lungs.
She could barely make out Steve’s voice talking to the two teens at the counter, sounding angry and pointed. But she didn't know what he was saying.
Not until he was right in front of her.
“Hey- hey Van, they're gone. Hey. Come on, take some deep breaths for me.”
When Van was breathing again, she slowly dropped her hands. She touched the scar on her face. It hurt again.
It always ached and burned when she was reminded of it… of what had happened…
“I… I'm sorry.” Van sputtered out finally. Steve shook his head.
“Don't be. Those assholes were hounding you about a traumatic experience. That shit was not okay.”
Van sat in the back with water as Robin was filled in on what happened and took over. Van wasn't ready to leave but she did clock out, just trying to quell the shaking in her hands.
It was like the universe didn't want to give her a break though, because it wasn’t long before the tv was saying someone was murdered. Just across from her home.
Van wasn't sure what to make of what was going on. Eddie wasn't a killer. But there was a dead body in his home.
Van felt like the trauma had washed over her again, shaking as she held her hands tightly against her chest.
Van didn't move though. She didn't open up to Steve or Robin, just hiding in the back as she chewed a piece of gum to calm her nerves.
Her therapist said it was a good idea, but she didn't know if she believed it then and there.
Van jumped when she saw a kid sliding across the counter, and… Max?
“Max? What's going on?”
“Oh fuck- Van, you scared the shit out of me.” The other red head held a hand to her chest. She shook her head. “You said you were hanging out with friends.”
Van hesitated, before sheepishly gesturing to Steve and Robin, who were giving awkward waves.
Max blinked. “Oh. Wow. Okay.”
“Now’s not the time!” The other kid quickly butt in, at the computer.
“Uh, Dustin this is my cousin Van. Van, this is my… friend, Dustin.”
Dustin gave a brief aw before getting serious again.
“Woah wait. You're cousins?” Steve asked, looking between them.
… He could see it.
“It's a small world.” Van muttered.
“After all…” Robin hummed to herself, but Van caught it and snorted.
Steve suddenly looked annoyed again. “No, wait. What are you guys doing here?”
“Setting up a base of operations.” Dustin snapped.
“Get off.” Steve snapped back, but Dustin didn't budge.
“I need it.”
“For what?”
“Eddie’s friends phone numbers.”
Van’s ears started to ring a bit. She blinked, not hearing anything else if the conversation as she slowly moved closer to the counter. She stared at Dustin.
“Why are you looking for Eddie?”
Max looked up at Van, and her expression softened. She seemed to hesitate.
“He didn't kill Chrissy.” Max said quietly. “At least… I don't think he did. But we need to find him and talk to him.”
Van squeezed her hands into fists. Now she wouldn't call Eddie her only friend- Robin and Steve were great. They'd worked together for months now, and gotten pretty close.
But Eddie was certainly her first.
“We’re helping them.” Van snapped, and Steve and Robin knew better than to argue.
Many phone calls later and they'd finally found a lead.
“Hey guys, I might have a lead.” Max turned to the group, and Van quickly looked up.
“Seriously?” Someone said, but Van wasn't paying attention to anyone but Max.
Maybe if she was, she would have noticed the look Robin gave her.
“Apparently, Eddie gets drugs from some guy named Reefer Rick, and sometimes he crashes there.”
“Where is he?” Van heard herself snap, but at least Max didn't take it personally.
“See… that's the thing. No one knows. He's more of… a legend?”
Van slumped in her chair and groaned, pinching the bridge of her nose. “Ugh, I have a headache.”
Max frowned.
“Well what about a last name?” Dustin asked, but Max shook her head.
“We don't know that either…”
“Bet the cops know a last name.” Steve said, causing the group to look towards him.
Van glared.
“Uh, what?”
“Cops. Look, if this Reefer Rick is a drug dealer, it means he's in the system. I bet he's been busted before.”
“That doesn't help us, Steve.” Van snapped, and Steve frowned back.
“I mean, I just think at this point, they should be filled in on what we know, what's going on.” He defended himself.
“You think Eddie’s guilty, don't you?” Dustin saved Van from having to argue with her friend, so she buried her face in her hands.
Eddie wasn't guilty. She knew it deep in her soul. She was a killer. She'd hunted. She never saw it in Eddie. She would know.
“Woah, woah! I believe in innocent until proven guilty, all that constitution shit!”
Van stood up quickly. The chair behind her slid back. “Steve. Eddie is my friend. He was my first friend. I know he's innocent. Trust me.”
Steve went quiet. He stared at Van for a second, before glancing away.
Max looked between them. She finally settled on looking at Van only, before their gazes clashed.
Max averted her gaze too.
Dustin turned back to Steve. “You know, we’d find him faster if you were helping too.”
Van didn't have the mind for this. She moved to the bathroom to calm down, noticing Robin give her a worried glanced that she waved away.
Van stood in front of the mirror, breathing a bit heavily as she looked at herself.
She wondered briefly if she was cursed. Maybe the Wilderness had followed her. Maybe it was asking for sacrifices and Eddie had-
No. Eddie would never.
… Eddie wasn't like Van. He was good.
“Van! We found Rick!” Max was suddenly calling, smacking the bathroom door.
Van jumped, catching her breath. “Oh- shit okay- coming!”
Van wanted to apologize to Steve. She didn't really know how though. She was being mean to a friend, even if he was annoying her…
But as they say in the car, she just couldn't. Not in front of people at least. Maybe when they could straggle behind a group, maybe when they were alone…
Van took a deep breath as they parked, climbing out of the car. She glanced at Steve again, before following the group to the house.
Van hugged herself, shivering a bit.
These were… houses… this was… a neighbourhood. Just like the trailer park. Yeah.
Van glanced back at the trees, feeling the wind. Her head fucking hurt.
When there was no response, she turned away from the door. Was Eddie here?
Van thought back to the hunts. Listen to the trees.
Van didn't want to listen. She just… she just wanted Eddie to pop out already. Say he was sorry for running but he had no part in this.
‘Now what do we hear?’
Lottie’s voice rang in her mind. She shut her eyes and took a deep breath, ignoring the looks she was getting.
“I hear… the leaves.” Van said slowly.
The others stayed quiet.
“I hear the wind. I hear… my breath… I hear… the trees… I hear… my breath… I hear the trees, I feel my friend-” Van’s eyes snapped open.
Van turned and rushed away from the group, causing them to curse and follow.
“Van!” Max yelped, nearly tripping.
Van stood in front of a new door. She exhaled slowly. “He's here. In there.”
Steve gave her a strange look, and Dustin blinked a few times.
“I know he is. He's… not gonna just come out if we ask. Just don't attack him. We’ll be fine.”
Van opened the door now, frowning when she was pulled back.
“Okay, first off, we haven't even checked the house. Second off, we need to like- look in the windows or something before busting in.” Steve started.
Van looked back at him. “No, I know this. It's not dangerous, he's scared.”
“How could you possibly-”
Dustin whistled. “Hey! Okay, look. Steve, you look through the windows. Van, Max, Robin. Let's head inside.”
Steve gawked. “No hey! That's not what I-”
“So you're coming inside?”
Steve shut his mouth quickly. He looked at the girls, then back at Dustin before giving an angry groan.
“Hello?” Robin called as she opened the door, slowly inching inside.
Van didn't barge in either, slowly moving into the garage. Her eyes landed on the boat.
Van didn't say anything, crossing her arms.
“Is anyone home?” Robin continued.
“What a dump…” Steve muttered, before grabbing an oar off the wall. He moved towards the boat, readying it.
“Stop.” Van put her hand up. And she really didn't like the look on Steve’s face. Her heart ached a little. Why was she fighting with Steve all day?
“He might be in here.” Steve said finally.
“So take the tarp off!” Dustin hissed.
“Well, if you're so brave, you take the tarp off!” Steve answered, before hitting at the inside of the boat with the oar.
Van winced. “Steve!”
She moved forward and grabbed the tarp, pulling it off in one swoop.
Suddenly Eddie had her against the wall, broken beer bottle up to her throat. His expression broke a bit as he recognized her.
“Van-?”
Van took a shaky breath, before releasing it. “Hey.”
“Dude, get off her!” Steve yelled.
“Drop the oar!” Van and Dustin both said at the same time.
Eddie looked wildly between everyone. As much as he really didn't want to hurt Van, he also didn't really want to be ganged up on for a murder he didn't commit. “What are you doing here-”
“Trying to prove your innocence, dick…” Van muttered. “So you gonna let me go or what?”
Steve dropped the oar, making Eddie flinch. Van hissed a bit. “Watch the fucking neck!”
Eddie jumped back. “Sorry, sorry.”
Eddie slid down to sit on the floor. Van moved her hand to her neck and rubbed it a bit, shrugging Robin off. She was fine.
Robin glanced at Eddie, then back at Van. She looked… more hurt than Van expected. She wondered why.
Dustin knelt down in front of Eddie.
“What are you doing here?” He muttered.
“We’re looking for you.” Dustin answered, frowning.
“We’re here to help.” Robin added, biting her lip a bit nervously.
“These are my friends. You know Robin, from band.” Dustin gestured, and Robin pretended to play an instrument.
“This is my friend Max. The one who never wants to play D&D.”
“I'm also uh, Van’s cousin.” Max added, gesturing nervously to Van.
Van didn't respond to that, just hugging herself and thinking hard.
“We’re on your side. I swear on my mother.” Dustin promised, the others chiming in that they swore on her too. Dustin reached to try and take the bottle, but Eddie flinched away.
“Okay!” Dustin tried to keep him calm.
“... We wanna know what happened.” Robin was kneeling by him too.
Max moved to check on Van, looking a bit worried. “Um… you okay?” She whispered.
Van pinched the bridge of her nose. “Yeah, yep, uh-huh. I'm fine.”
Max didn't believe it, but she knew when to drop things.
“You won't believe me.” Eddie said, and Van noticed that the others gave her a wary glance.
They seemed hesitant.
“My, um…” Van started, shrinking back a bit when everyone looked at her. “My… friend. She would sleepwalk.” She clutched at her chest a bit.
“We tried tying her down at night but one time she got loose. So I decided to start following her instead. She kept taking us to different symbols that she couldn't have known about.” Van hesitated. “I mapped them… on a map, hah. And uh. It made a shape. The symbol she didn't take us to, the one I figured out. We found the boy who'd been missing for… god a month at least.”
Van could see that the others were confused, so she took a shaky breath.
“All that to say… I’d believe you. I mean. I know shit is… crazy sometimes. I have an open mind. I'll listen to what you say.”
Eddie glanced around the room. With a few nods from the others, he sighed heavily.
“Her body, just like… lifted up into the air, and uh… and she just like, hung there. In the air. And her bones, uh…” Eddie whimpered. “... Her bones started to snap.”
The room was still as Eddie took a breath.
“Her eyes man… it- it was like there was something… like, inside her head, pulling. I… I didn't know what to do so I… I ran away. I left her there…”
The story was… worse than Van expected.
Van tried to think if she did believe it. If the others would.
On one hand, she'd seen crazy shit. Knew Lottie could see the future. But this was… worse than that. More than that.
Van looked behind her. She could hear something.
She looked back at the others.
“You all think I'm crazy, right?” Eddie muttered.
“No. We don't think you're crazy.” Dustin responded, though Eddie barely let him finish his sentence before he yelled.
“Don't bullshit me, man! I know how this sounds…”
“We’re not bullshitting you.” Max said confidently.
“We believe you.” Robin sounded just as confident.
Van looked between them and realized that they believed for a reason.
Van moved to put her hand on Max’s shoulder, making the younger ginger turn quickly.
Van gave her a quizzical look, and Max pursed her lips.
“Look… what I'm about to tell you might be a little… difficult to take.” Dustin started, and Max averted her eyes.
Van found she wasn't paying attention to Eddie anymore, just staring right into Max’s eyes as Dustin spoke.
“You know how people say Hawkins is cursed? They're not way off. There's another world. A world hidden beneath Hawkins. Sometimes it bleeds into ours.”
“Like ghosts and shit?” Eddie muttered.
Max still wouldn't look up at Van as she answered. “There are some things… worse than ghosts.”
Van promptly turned away and left the garage.
She didn't know where she was going. She heard people call after her, but didn't pay attention.
Van was breathing heavily. The trees loomed. The lake. The lake.
Van remembered watching Laura Lee go down, remembered the hope crushing feeling that she was stuck in those woods forever.
Not only did she make it out, but she came somewhere worse.
“Hey!”
Van felt a hand on her wrist. She looked back at Robin, a bit surprised to see her follow.
“What- where are you going?”
Van hesitated. Where was she going?
“I…”
“Are you… upset?”
Van thought for a moment, before nodding.
“... At Max?”
“No. Yes. Kind of?” Van sighed. “Look… I came back from something big. Something bad. A year and 9 months. I couldn't stay back where I was from, and Max needed me… her mom needed me… and I thought I'd kill two birds with one stone.”
Van crossed her arms, looking out into the black of the lake.
“I’d go somewhere to live a normal senior year that I missed, where no one knows what happened. I’d help my favorite cousin. Win win.”
Van glared now, before picking up a rock and chucking it into the water. It rippled.
“And she didn't warn me? Didn't say this wasn't a safe place to recover?” Van squeezed her eyes shut. “I would have come anyways. She didn't need to hide shit from me to get me to come. I just didn't get any warning.”
Van felt tears spill down her cheeks. “Not even after getting here?”
Van rubbed her face. She looked up at Robin, who looked some mixture of sympathetic and uneasy.
“Its… not my place to say why she hid anything.” Robin started slowly. “But… Max is a good kid. She's been through a lot. Losing her brother, ah… it's been hard. Having to tell you all this… maybe she was worried about opening up to someone. She hasn’t really been doing that much.”
Van was silent. She stepped closer to the edge of the lake, staring down at the peak of her reflection. She swore her face was torn open again.
“... Yeah.” She muttered. “I get it.”
“... Why don't you come inside?” Robin offered, hand slowly moving to grasp Van’s wrist. Van didn't make a move to pull away.
“It's cold, and you don't want to miss the explanation right?”
Van exhaled. She could see frost on her breath. Why was it that cold? That didn't make sense.
“Uh… yeah. Okay.”
Van slowly tore her eyes away from her reflection to follow Robin.
This was going to be a long ass night.